Is that VAT number valid?

Came across an interesting service today that lets you verify if a VAT number someone has supplied to you is correct and valid. It’s called VIES and is managed by the European Commission‘s Taxation and Customs Union Directorate-General. It looks like this:

All you need to do is provide the member state the VAT number belongs to, the VAT number itself and the system returns the name and address the VAT number is registered to.